Super Team Bases, Detention Blocks, and Legal Issues

[Marcus Impudite]

If a super team (other than the ones that have official Police Powers) built a base with a small detention block (only about 2-4 cells), would they have many legal troubles regarding its use? Obviously, holding someone prisoner indefinitely would be questionable at best, but would there be any other issues the team would realistically have to deal with? Say a villain was captured while attempting to break into the base, would there be any problem with the team holding him in a cell until the proper authorities could come and pick him up?

[sinanju]

An ordinary citizen has the legal power to arrest someone and hold him for the authorities, so a superhero would probably have the same right. Of course, that theoretical power comes with a lot of strings. If you make a citizen's arrest, you'd best be **** sure you know what you're doing, and what your legal rights and responsibilities are. And you'd probably also better be prepared to be sued. A suit doesn't have to have merit to cost you boatloads of money to defend against, to say nothing of the time and aggravation--even if the suit is ultimately dismissed as without merit, it can still be expensive and troublesome to deal with.

[Hermit]

I think 'detaining them' in a cell could be a lawsuit waiting to happen, but I'm not a lawyer type person. Perhaps if the heroes called the police as soon as they shoved the villain in the cell and explained the situation, they could be temporarily deputized or at least have a federal or state 'okey dokey' on record.

 

"We have Umash the Obliterater in a cell in our base. Yeah, the anti matter guy. Can you get over here and fetch him, and if not, can we at least have approval to detain him on your behalf for a time? Otherwise we have to let him go and he'll probably devour Indianapolis. Your call."

[Guest dan2448]

If a super team (other than the ones that have official Police Powers) built a base with a small detention block (only about 2-4 cells)' date=' would they have many legal troubles regarding its use? Obviously, holding someone prisoner indefinitely would be questionable at best, but would there be any other issues the team would realistically have to deal with? [/quote']

 

In addition to legal issues, doing so might also pose some practical problems.

 

Since in comic books super villains inevitably escape imprisonment, detaining a villain within the team's HQ may unintentionally create a sort of 'trojan horse,' resulting in the freed villain running amok in their HQ when the team least expects it and is least prepared to deal with it.

 

Also, if the team's HQ is small-ish, imprisoned villains may be privy to the team's planning and deliberations while held prisoner there.

 

 

 

[psyber624]

I think a GM could have a lot of fun with this question. Even if there are hard and fast rules in your world regarding such things hard and fast rules were MADE to be dickered around with by lawyers. Basically regardless of what anyone might think a Superteam will have exactly as much trouble with it as a GM decides to give them, legal or otherwise

[Greywind]

That is part of the GM's job, after all.

[Guest dan2448]

Sixth edition "Champions Universe" has a short section on 'Superheroes and the Law' (pp.50-53) and the "Stronghold" book for 5e covers a lot of the same ground in more detail in its first 33 pages. Flipping through them again I was surprised that neither seemed to address this issue directly. Thirteenth Amendment issues are covered (i.e. involuntary servitude) as are issues raised when super villains are imprisoned by government. But not this precise point (at least as far as I could tell after a very quick page through).

 

I was surprised because this very issue came up when my high school friends and I first started playing "Champions" in the mid-1980s. (Though our understanding of the applicable laws was far less sophisticated than that discussed in the books I just mentioned, published 25 years later.) Back then, we decided against detaining villains at the team's headquarters primarily because the Justice League satellite and the Bat Cave (each as detailed in floorplans published in supplements for Mayfair's "DC Heroes" RPG at the time) didn't have any such facilities either.

 

For the purposes of a legal analysis, the applicable criminal laws and civil laws may be considered separately. The "Stronghold" book does suggest that (in the Champions Universe anyway) supervillains are unlikely to prevail against heroes in civil suits concerning related claims arising from battle and detention. The applicable criminal, administrative, and regulatory laws, and how they are enforced by governments, may be considered independently.